And william m



(No Model.)

0. OROOK.

7 METHOD or MANUFACTURING BUTTER DISHES. N0. 375,264.

792's Jfiorne Patented Dec. 20, 1887 N. PETERS, Hula-Lithographer, Washington, [L C.

UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES OROOK, OF NEYV YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE AS- SIGN MENTS, TO FRANK M. EARLE, OF MEXICO, AND WILLIAM M. WHITE,

OF UTIGA, NEW YORK.

METHODOF MANUFACTURING BUTTER-DISHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375,264, dated December 20, 1887.

Application filed April 12, 1887. Serial No. 234,505. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, CHARLES ORooK, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Manufacturing Butter-Dishes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming re a part of this specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon.

Heretofore in the manufacture of butter dishes and similar articles from thin veneers of wood it has been customary after the moistr 5 ened veneer has been properly scored and cut into blanks to thoroughly dry the'latter by placing them on edge in racks and subjecting them to the action of heat. The blanks having been dried and next bent into shape are finally secured in that position by suitable fastening devices. As is well known, thewood shrinks very considerably during the drying process and is very liable to become warped and twisted; hence the drying has to be performed 2 5 before the parts are bent and fastened together in final form, as otherwise the article would be cracked, broken, or distorted by the unequal contraction of the material. By first drying the blanks the different portions are 0 made to assume apractically fixed relation, so that when bent and fastened there will belittle if any danger of further changes, such as would tend to distort the dish or break the veneer at the joints or fastenings. Aswill be apparent, 3 5 the drying of the blanks at the stage indicated, while productive of good results so far as the finished article is concerned, is otherwise a positive disadvantage, for not only does it render the operation of bending and fastening 0 more difficult and require extra handling, but it increases the waste of material, as the blanks being rendered hard and stiff by the drying process are much more liable to be cracked and broken in handling as Well as in bending and fastening. 7

Now, according to my present invention, instead of dryingthe blanks prior to making the bends and securing the parts in position, I score and cut and subsequently bend the blanks into shape before drying them, and this I accomplish in the following manner: The veneer as it comes from the cutting-machine is in a moist and pliable condition and is first, by means of suitable devices, scored across the grain on the line on which it is to be bent, then slitted at the proper places, then the separate blanks scored and cut, severed, and finally the blank folded into completed form and held in its folded position and dried, after which it is secured in proper final shape by means of suitable fastening devices.

The operations mentioned above I have shown'in detail in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a view of one end of a strip of, veneer with lines of scoring and preliminary cutting indicated thereon; Fig. 2, a view of the completed blank scored, slitted, and severed from the main strip of veneer; Fig. 3, a view of the dish bent up into proper shape; Fig. 4, aview of the manner of supporting a series of dishes while drying; Fig. 5, a View of the dish completed with the clamping and securing devices in position thereon.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the same parts.

A machine competent to carry out the various steps shown in the drawings is illustrated in my application for Patent N o.197,807 filed April 5, 1886, to which reference is made for a detailed description of the devices employed, although it is obvious that the same operations may be carried out by hand or other machinery.

The damp and pliable veneer is, as stated, first, preferably by means of rollers, scored or cut partially through,preferably from the outside of the dish-say the upper side of the veneerasshown on the lines a a, (seeFig. 1,) which,as will presently appear, constitute the points at which the bends are made to form the dish. The veneer sheet continuing further in its movement is then by means of suitable knives cut through on the lines I) b, serving to separate the end from the side flaps of the blank. As the veneer is moved forward again, asuitable cutter operates upon it and severs the blank from the main portion of the veneer,at the same time trimming the ends so as to make the blanks all uniform in shape and size, and then by means of a suitable plunger the blank is struck near the center or the portion forming the bottom of the dish and pushed into a suitable holder or die, causing the end flaps, c c, to be folded on the lines a a at right angles with the main portion or bottom; then by means of either the edges of the die or suitable movable flaps the sides d darebent up on the lines 00 m, not scored, however, as the bend is with the grain of the wood; then the blank continuing farther in the passage or die shape which is to hold it the small end pieces, 0 e, on the side flaps are bent on their scored lines do around the corners of the end flaps, thus making a lapjoint and forming a place through which staples or other fastening devices can be passed to hold the dish in shape, or which can be clamped together at the top, as shown in Fig. 5, the latter figure representing the completed dish.

All the above operations except the fastening are performed while the veneers are in a moist andpliable condition; but of course it would not answer to fasten them in position while unshrunk,as the shrinking would cause them to twist out of shape and tear the fastenings from them; and to remedy this I pro vide means for carrying them as they are fed from the machine,performing the above operations into a passage or chute of about the size of the complete folded dish; and of course as the succeeding dishes folded in proper shape are pushed into this passage by the plunger the whole column of previously-formed dishes will move forward the thickness of one-the last one formed. The passage is small enough to keep the dishes in shape, and is caused to pass through a suitable drying-chamber heated by steam or in any'other suitable manner, the length of said chamber being so proportioned to the rate of movement of the column of dishes and the time necessary to thoroughly dry them as that by the time a dish has reached the end it will be thoroughly dry and shrunk and more particularly dried in its final shape, so that the only thing necessary to do in order to finish it is to apply suitable clamping devices to the lapping parts 0 and c.

\Vhile the operations to which the veneeris subjected are described as being separate, they are in practice performed in very close successionthat is, while a complete blank is being severed from the strip the one next is being cut and the one prior to that is being severed, the piece of veneer being moved forward either continuously or intermittingly.

Although the completely-folded dishes may be pushed by the formingplunger into the passage that holds them in position and the column of dishes moved forward by the pressure of the one last formed, I prefer to provide a means for carrying them forward automatically-such, for instance, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 4, consisting of traveling bands provided with projections located at the sides of the passages and moving in the direction of the drying-chamber and passing through the latter, said projections being adaptedto take hold of the edges of the folded dishes and positively move them forward, and being so spaced that there will be sufficient space between the dishes for a circulation of air, so that they maybe more thoroughly and quickly dried and shrunk on their passage through the chamber.

It will be seen that the above-described method of cutting and folding the dishes while damp and pliable and drying them in their ultimate position is a great improvement in the art as heretofore practiced and entirely obviates the loss occasioned by the warping and cracking of the dishes as heretofore from the causes mentioned. Of course any desired manner of cutting and folding the dishes may be employed, though I prefer that described in my prior application referred to, the essential features of the method being that of holding the dish in folded shape and drying it.

Although I have in describing my present improvement referred generally to the ma chinery disclosed in my said prior application, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto, for, as is obvious, all the operations may he performed by hand. Thus the scoring, cutting, and bending operations may be accomplished by the use of wellknown implements and the bent and folded blanks be placed one at atime in any suitable holding rack or frame such as will retain the bent portions in place but leave the parts free to move the one upon the other as the wood shrinks or contracts during the drying process. The folded blanks when thus dried retain their shape, so that the fastening devices can at once he applied without subjecting the dried veneer to any further bending or folding operations such as would tend to break the veneer.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The herein-described method of manufacturing articles such as butter-dishes from veneer, consisting in forming and folding the ICC dishes from suitably-prepared blanks while in a moist and pliable condition, then holding them in shape and drying them, and finally securing them permanently in shape after being dried, as set forth.

2. The herein-described method of manufacturing butter-dishes from veneer, consisting in folding a suitably cut and scored blank into shape while in a moist and pliable condition, holding said dish in shape and drying it, and finally securing said dish permanently in shape by suitable fastenings, as set forth.

3. The herein-described method of manufacturing butter-dishes from veneer, consisting in scoring the moist and pliable veneer on lines across the grain on which it is to be bent, cutting the lines of separation between the end and side fiapsfsevering the blank, folding it into completed form and loosely confining it, drying the folded and confined dish, andlfinally securing it permanently in shape,

5 as set forth. I I

4. The herein-described method of manufacturing butter-dishes from veneer, consisting in folding a suitable blankinto complete form while in a moist and pliable condition, holding it in shape, passing it through a suit- 10 able drying-chamber, and finally securing it permanently in shape, as set forth.

CHARLES OROOK. Witnesses:

CHARLES H. RUssELL, CHARLES P. LATTING. 

